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User blog:Xensyria/The Man Who Knew Too Much – Part 1 – Sexton Blake B
Following on from my last blog post, I've been checking out some of the other stories titled "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (there seem to be lots of them!), to see if any of them are referenced in the deleted Matrix Comic of the same name. I've just finished reading the 1955 Sexton Blake story, published in the Sexton Blake Library, series three, #350. The first unusual thing is that there were two Sexton Blake stories that both have this title. The other one (which I'll call "Sexton Blake A") was published in 1934. Why did they choose this title twice? It could well be a coincidence, but another possibility is protecting a trademark, or other rights to this title. Sexton Blake A was published in Detective Weekly #85, dated 6 October, 1934, shortly before the Alfred Hitchcock film The Man Who Knew Too Much, which premiered in December 1934. So perhaps, when it became known that Hitchcock was remaking the film under the same title, the owners of Sexton Blake may have decided to publish another story under the same name, in order to assert their rights and, and take advantage of the publicity surrounding this name. The story ("Sexton Blake B"), was published in 1955, the year before Hitchcock's remake was released. But did the story have anything to do with our comic? Here's a plot summary (yeah, full spoilers): :In 1915, during the First World War, the Duke de Valere of Rouen and his family, owners of a priceless collection of jewellery and miniatures – called the De Valere collection – fled to Belgium, taking the collection with them, and boarded a refugee ship bound for Britain (N.B. there are some Google hits for "De Valère", but the collection seems to be invented, and the only "Duc de Valere" seems to be a fictional character in the Sons of the Revolution series of "romance novels"). Also aboard were a couple called Enoch and Ada Grindum. The ship ran aground at Bawdsey Point, in Suffolk (a real place); the Grindums were the only survivors, and they managed to escape with the De Valere collection. :They used the money to buy Oldby Hall (no search results), near the village of Bidmarsh (seems to be invented, but is also an obscure surname) in the East Anglian fens, not far from the old Stone Age route the Peddar Way (perhaps the Peddars Way, which runs from the north Norfolk coast through the East Anglian peninsula). They kept the collection secret, which was only revealed on the death of Mrs Grindum. Their servants (the Martins, a married couple from London, who arrived about 1930) got in touch with a criminal they knew from London called Foxy Symes, who killed Mr Grindum, and buried the collection along with the bodies, while Mr and Mrs Martin pretended to be the Grindums. Foxy travelled around the world (New York, Cape Town, Paris) at their expense, trying to find a buyer for the collection. :Some time later, Lupin (a former "Eastern Counties" champion wrestler, including a fight with "Bandy Jim Cobbold" at the Ipswich Corn Exchange, who now gathered watercress and kept chickens from a shack near to Oldby Hall Corn Exchange is real, but "Bandy Jim" seems to have been made up) arrived, trying to sell them chickens, and they hired him to do odd jobs for them. Some time after this, a teenage "Gypsy" girl, Elvira arrived with the travellers at the "Bidmarsh Feast" (no results on Google...), a yearly fair, and stayed at Bidmarsh when they left; Lupin, who was also from a traveller family, looked after her, and got her a place at Oldby, trying to get her to steal: she was caught trying, and this was used as a threat to keep her with them at Oldby Hall to run errands. :This was the status quo when Archaeologist Clark Halliday and his sister Clara (also Halliday) went to Bidmarsh, following up on an excavation made by the Ipswich Roman Society (again, no results...), which had uncovered a Roman wall outside the village. They were heading towards the spot that the curator of Ipswich Museum directed them to, but just before they got there, Clark saw some grass that had clearly been recently dug. Assuming it was the excavation site, he began to dig, and soon uncovered a French gold and emerald brooch. He called his sister over, but they were observed by Elvira. :Clark and Clara noticed that they were being watched, and chased after her, but were led into the fens. Clara fell into a bog, and was only just saved by Clark, while Elvira escaped. They made their way back to the Butt and Oyster inn where they were staying (there is actually an inn of that name in East Anglia(!), though it's in a hamlet called Pin Mill instead of "Bidmarsh"), run by the landlord Dan Ruddock, and that evening had a chat to some of the locals, mentioning Oldby Hall and its inhabitants, Enoch and Ada Grindum; naturally, neither they nor their servants had been seen in recent years. One of the locals, George, told them the story of the ship running aground at Bawdsey Point (a real place, not far from Pin Mill!) during World War I. They stopped when Lupin arrived at the bar, behaving aggressively. :Elvira had gone back to Oldby Hall, and told the "Grindums" what she had seen, and the next morning, afraid that the collection might be uncovered, Mr "Grindum" wrote a letter to Foxy instructing him to kill Clark Halliday, and sent Lupin to get Elvira to post it in Bidmarsh. The Hallidays returned to London that day, and the day after, Clark made an appointment to visit Dr Thrumbold (an eminent archaeologist at London University) at his flat in Maida Vale once he got back from his lecture at 10pm. Clark set off at about 9:30pm on foot, reaching Bishop's Bridge Road just before 10. Foxy followed Clark as he neared Paddington Bridge (which crosses over railway lines approaching Paddington Station and the Grand Union Canal. He caught up with Clark, asked him for a light, then "accidentally" dropped the lighter Clark gave him; when Clark bent down to fetch the lighter, he hit him with a cosh. He took Clark's papers, and hurredly searched Clark's clothes for the brooch, but as a train was approaching, he gave up his search and threw the body over the bridge onto the rail tracks below, just before 10:15. :Just over two hours later, train guard (and Everton supporter) Alf Prosser's train was finally approaching Paddington. The ticket collector Jim offered to take his report in to the traffic controller (Wilkie, not the hated Pringle), allowing him to get home sooner (Mrs Prosser was suspicious when he was late, thinking he was having an affair, like Mr Jackson had). But as the train passed under Paddington Bridge at around 12:25am, he saw Clark's body lying on the tracks, and reported it to the traffic inspector when he arrived at Paddington Station. The inspector took Alf to the railway police sergeant Bullfinch, and they went out to check the body, then called in three plain-clothes Metropolitan Police, one of who took photos of the body (Pete), while the senior one took a statement from Alf, before driving him home (to a shocked, but then proud Mrs Prosser, who realised she would have a story to tell Mrs Naggs next door, whose husband had been a wall of death rider). :The death made the next morning's newspapers, and Alf attended the Coroner's Court in Paddington Town Hall (like all of the London locations mentioned, a real place), along with Clark's sister Clara. The jury brought a verdict of accidental death within five minutes, as a polite way to indicate that it was a clear suicide, as one of the two jaded Fleet Street journalists covering the story loudly said. Clara, overhearing this, was appalled, and refusing to give up, went to New Scotland Yard police station within two hours, and spoke to Inspector Coutts, who said that he supported the Paddington Division and Coroner's Court's opinion of it being an accidental death. Foxy Symes followed her, just missing an opportunity to push her under a passing bus, and kept watch for another opportunity by her flat. That evening, she phoned to make an appointment to see the famous detective Sexton Blake, and the next evening arrived at his house on Baker Street (kept for him by his housekeeper Mrs Bardell), again followed by Foxy. She explained everything to Blake and his assistant Tinker, including that she thought she was being followed. They decided to check this by trailing her when she left. Foxy followed, and Blake and Tinker trailed behind too far, so when an opportunity arose, Foxy attacked Clara; Blake arrived just in time, and managed to fight off Foxy, who escaped. They went to her flat, which had been ransacked by Foxy looking for the brooch; Clara fetched the suit Clark had been wearing, and Blake found the brooch which had fallen through a hole in a pocket into the jacket's lining. He and Tinker left, arranging to travel to Bidmarsh with Clara the next morning, and deciding to give the brooch to Inspector Coutts to investigate. :Foxy left London for Bidmarsh in his 30-foot former wartime air-sea rescue motor-launch, but his suddenly leaving meant that his girlfriend Jacqueline (Jackie) Farrell, who worked as a hostess at the Jasmine Club (nothing too likely on Google, may have been invented), wondered what happened. She went to his apartment, but only found a scrap of paper he left behind with Clark's name and address. Thinking this could lead her to find out where Foxy had gone, she looked up his phone number and began calling it, giving her name and the address of the Jasmine Club for Clark to get back to her (not knowing that he was dead). When Foxy reached Bidmarsh, he, "Enoch Grindum", and Lupin went to Clark's excavation site, and dug up the jewellery collection, which was in a leather bag, that Lupin didn't have a chance to look into. :Clara, Blake and Tinker travelled from Liverpool Street Station via Chelmsford and Marks Teyin a Pullman train, changing at Ipswich. When they arrived at Bidmarsh Station, they recognised Lupin, loading watercress crates into the guard's carriage; Clara hid, while Blake and Tinker talked to Old Jake the station master, pretending to be on a fishing expedition, who asked Lupin his advice on fishing in the area. Lupin wasn't convinced, but gave them a lift to the Butt and Oyster in his horse (named Jenny) and cart. Clara joined them there, and they spoke to Dan Ruddock over lunch (provided by Mrs Ruddock), asking about Lupin and Elvira. :They visited the excavation site, which they saw had been ransacked. They went to Lupin's cabin, getting there around sunset, and found Elvira, who ran off, but was caught by Tinker. From what little she said, they confirmed that she had seen Clara and Clark on their visit, and then Lupin arrived in a rowing boat, coming back from Foxy's motor-launch. Lupin pretended that the boat belonged to holiday-makers, and said he was delivering water-cress to them; when Blake asked him about the excavation being disturbed, he invited them in, and showed them an old leather boot as the only thing he claimed to have found. When Blake said that Clark had been murdered, Elvira ran off; Tinker tried to chase after her again, but ended up being attacked by the "Grindums'" Great Dane as they got close to Oldby Hall, who Elvira fed and looked after – the dog almost killed Tinker, but was called off by Elvira. In the meantime, Blake took the boot, and returned to the Butt and Oyster with Clara, where the local constable, PC Simpson was waiting for them, having been told about their investigation by Ipswich CID. They spoke about Lupin, Elvira, the "Grindums", and the possibility of smuggling, before Tinker arrived injured. Inspector Coutts phoned, and spoke to Blake; his team had identified the brooch as belonging to the De Valere collection, and he also reported that Jackie Farrell had been phoning Clark's flat for the past two days. They also examined the boot Lupin had excavated, and found it was French. :The next morning, Blake returned to London, while Clara and Tinker went to get the mid-day train to Ipswich to talk to the curator of Ipswich Museum. At Bidmash Station, Tinker saw Lupin again giving crates to a railway porter (Harry) to load onto the train. Suspecting that he was smuggling something, when they arrived at Ipswich Tinker followed the crates, and got into the lorry they were loaded into while Clara went to get lunch. The lorry ended up going to Ipswich market, and the crates were just full of poultry, so they went to the museum. The curator showed them maps of the original Roman Society excavation, and confirmed that Clark had dug in the wrong place. :In London, Blake visited Inspector Coutts, discussed the French origins of the De Valere collection with him, and gave him the French boot from Bidmarsh, for his team to examine. Late that evening Blake visited the Jasmine Club on Greek Street, near Shaftesbury Avenue in Soho (again, all real places) to find Jackie Farrell. After talking at the club, they went back to her apartment in Earl's Court. Blake confessed that he was investigating Clark Halliday's murder, and got her to tell him about Foxy, how he had left about a week before in his motor-launch, which he normally kept on the River Thames at Chelsea. :Back in Bidmarsh, Foxy had convinced the "Grindums" that he had a seller for the collection lined up and had £10k as an advance, had they agreed to leave for the continent. They tied Elvira up, but Lupin arrived and wanted to know where she was. They told him that Blake had taken her for questioning, and Lupin left after threatening them if they tried anything. Blake, Tinker and Clara had returned, with Blake sneaking on board Foxy's launch to make sure they couldn't escape, while Tinker and Clara stood watch. :After leaving Oldby Hall, Lupin rowed to the launch to take the £10k advance money; Tinker signalled to Blake that he was on his way, in time for Blake to hide in the water opposite where Lupin boarded. When Lupin went into the cabin, Blake followed and confronted him; Lupin still thought Blake had Elvira, and attacked Blake, who fought back and eventually knocked Lupin out, over the side of the boat into the water, which brought him to his senses. They returned to the shore, and Lupin (who had a new found respect for Blake's fighting ability) told them all he knew. They went back to the excavation site, and got Lupin to keep digging, until he uncovered the remains of the real Grindums. Returning to Bidmarsh, they got PC Simpson, and left for Oldby Hall with Dan Ruddock driving them all in his car. :Meanwhile in Oldby Hall, "Enoch Grindum" told Foxy to get the girl, while he got the collection. Foxy told Elvira that they were leaving without the "Grindums" (who had tied her up), promising that Lupin would go with them. He got her to scream for help; Elvira called off the dog when he ran in, and Foxy threatened "Ada Grindum" with a gun when she arrived, tying her up in Elvira's place. He struck "Enoch", and they left for the motor-launch. Blake and his crew arrived, finding "Enoch" on the floor, "Ada" tied up, and the dog, which ran out after Elvira. :Foxy and Elvira reached the rowing boat, and were about to set off for the motor-launch, when Lupin arrived. Hearing him, and realising that Foxy had been lying, Elvira leapt back to the shore, followed by Foxy, who threatened Lupin that he would shoot her. At that moment the Great Dane appeared, and leapt at Foxy before he knew what was happening; Lupin put his hand over Elvira's mouth before she could call the dog off, and by the time she did, Foxy was dead. :After this, Mrs Martin ("Ada Grindum") confessed to everything, and she and her husband were arrested. Lupin and Elvira were cleared of the murders (with Lupin keeping the £10k from Foxy, Blake choosing not to look into it). Finally, back in Baker Street, Blake gave Clara a small Roman carved ivory phoenix, which had been found on the dig, saying that the authorities wanted her to have it, as recognition of her brother, and that it was a symbol of immortality and goodness and light overcoming darkness and despair. She asked Blake to keep it for a while, and left to join Tinker outside as they walked in the morning sun. The plot seems completed unrelated, as far as I can see, and none of the names or places mentioned in the book (I think I've got nearly all of them above) seem in any way connected to our comic. But with two films, several more magazine stories and books to go, the search continues. Category:Blog posts